Comments on: Top Nine Whacked-Out Automotive Rebadges

By: krazykarguy

krazykarguy — Tue, 14 Oct 2008 19:21:30 +0000

What about pretty much any Isuzu product from the last 10 years or so? All rebadged GM junk.

And what about Honda/Acura’s partnership with Isuzu? For the Acura SLX (nee Trooper) or the original Honda Odyssey (nee Oasis)?

100% agreed about the rebadged Dodge Dakota/Mitsubishi whatever they called it… absolutely pointless.

How about the VW Toureg/Audi Q7/Porsche Cayenne? Or while we’re on EU high-end stuff, the new Ferrari California and the Maserati GranSport?

Or the barely warmed-over Dodge Sprinter van (that can be turned back into a MBZ product on eBay very easily). This actually was a boon for ChryCo., so not such a bad badge-engineered idea.

But, as always, GM was always the worst offender.
Pontiac Vibe/Toyota Matrix?
TrailBlazer/Rainier/Bravada/9-7x/Envoy/Ascender?
Cavalier/Phoenix/Cimmaron/Skylark
Cobalt/G5/Ion (?)
Saab 9-5/Saturn L-Series
GMC truck/Chevy Truck (seriously, what’s the point?)
Saturn Outlook/Traverse/TransPort/Lumina APV

Just be glad that the Aztek was never re-badged as anything else. *shudder*

By: billc83

billc83 — Tue, 14 Oct 2008 13:39:50 +0000

I’m with NickR. TTAC should propose “The Cimarron Award,” giving the award yearly to the most blatent/redundant rebadge!

I foresee the Routan taking this year’s top honors. I think the upcoming Pontiac G3 has a good shot next year

The trophy, of course, will be a scale model of a Cimarron, by Cadillac, complete with landau roof and continential kit!

By: LastResort

LastResort — Tue, 14 Oct 2008 04:31:21 +0000

Saabaru, I knew it before the click.

By: NickR

NickR — Tue, 14 Oct 2008 00:10:22 +0000

Finding crappy badge jobs is easy. Could you ever find nine good ones ?

The Chrysler Conquest and Dodge Stealth were tolerable.

The Cimarron should be retired from contests like this…talk about the proverbial low-hanging fruit. And then there should be some kind of award named after it.

For me, one of the worst rebadges was the Dodge Charger version of the Chrysler Cordoba. Sad.

By: Justin Berkowitz

Justin Berkowitz — Mon, 13 Oct 2008 22:46:46 +0000

@akitadog:

That’s a superb example.

By: akitadog

akitadog — Mon, 13 Oct 2008 22:44:40 +0000

Don’t forget the two-gen old Malibu (or Classic) and the Olds Cutlass. So blatant, it probably gave someone a reason to kill Olds.

By: pleiter

pleiter — Mon, 13 Oct 2008 20:16:43 +0000

Also, the Sterling 825 rebad of an Acura Legend.

By: skor

skor — Mon, 13 Oct 2008 19:06:18 +0000

I blame Ford for the Cadillac Cimarron. After GM executives got a look at the Lincoln Versailles shit-box, they must have thought to themselves, “Nobody out shit-boxes GM!” Boy did they ever succeed. Compared to the Cimarron, the Versailles look like a top shelf European product.

By: ferrarimanf355

ferrarimanf355 — Mon, 13 Oct 2008 18:54:02 +0000

Volkswagen Routan. Oh sure, it made perfect sense to the accountants. One problem. Accountants shouldn’t run car companies.

Amen. Why VW didn’t put that Microbus concept from a few years ago into production baffles me. It would have made a great compliment to the New Beetle…

By: billc83

billc83 — Mon, 13 Oct 2008 18:43:25 +0000

First: The Cimarron is the poster child for horrible rebadges. Whenever I think rebadge, my mind races directly to the small Caddy.

In all fairness, the Chrysler TC was NOT a rebadge, though a dead-ringer for the LeBarons which its development predated (Of course, it didn’t help that the similar-styled third-generation LeBaron beat the TC to the market, and sold for twice as much!). Though the underpinnings are certainly derived from the K-Cars, not many actual parts are shared.

Calling the Chysler TC a rebadged K-Car is akin to calling the Cadillac Allante a rebadged Eldorado, since it was originally a shortened Eldo chassis and engine. In actuality, they’re quite different cars.

By: willbodine

willbodine — Mon, 13 Oct 2008 17:37:23 +0000

Is the Chrysler TC a re-badge? It was on a unique, shortened chassis, with a TC-only engine/tranny option. Plus all that Italian leather and wood lifted it quite ways from the Mopar norm. A friend here in PS has one as a daily driver. The anti-lock brakes are unique to the TC and are very problematic, parts hard to find and obscenely expensive.
And where are the Escalade and Mark LT?

By: BlueBrat

BlueBrat — Mon, 13 Oct 2008 17:28:55 +0000

Good work on this, I love oddball stuff like this.

By: dhallen219

dhallen219 — Mon, 13 Oct 2008 16:16:16 +0000

Don’t forget the Pontiac T1000 from the early 80’s, a rebadged Chevette which was a rebadged GM model from Europe that was obsolete by the time they started selling as a Chevy here. Another example of brand dilution(see Cimmaron)from the masters at GM.

By: sitting@home

sitting@home — Mon, 13 Oct 2008 16:12:30 +0000

Finding crappy badge jobs is easy. Could you ever find nine good ones ?

By: shaker

shaker — Mon, 13 Oct 2008 16:10:16 +0000

That whole “pregnant women” thing with the Routan ads is getting under my skin, causing me to change the channel immediately — too bad, ’cause Brooke is still hot.

By: N85523

N85523 — Mon, 13 Oct 2008 16:01:46 +0000

My friends don’t like watching television with me anymore because of my outbursts when Brooke Shields exclaims the virtues of German engineering in the Routan.